Weʼre raising £500 to help Alfie who is our good friends little boy. My wife and I have decided to do a 5k colour run in July as away to raise some money to help

Crowdfunding is a new type of fundraising where you can raise funds for your own personal cause, even if you're not a registered charity.

The page owner is responsible for the distribution of funds raised.

Story

Alfie is a beautiful and happy little 4 year old boy. He's a cheeky little chappy and his smile lights up the room! He loves going to nursery and is a very sociable little boy. There are things Alfie struggles to do such as, keep up with his friends at nursery, climb, run, ride a bike or a scooter. He doesn't let this bother him and his smile never fades. He just gets on and if he falls down, he quite simply gets back up again with that big smile on his face.

In February 2018, the family was torn apart with the news that Alfie had been diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) is a severe type of muscular dystrophy, the symptoms of muscle weakness usually begin around the age of 4 in boys and worsens quickly. Most are unable to walk by the age of 12.

DMD affects around 1 in 5,000 males, is a life limiting condition and at present has no cure.

Here’s Alfie’s story...

When Alfie was a baby he struggled to sit upright by himself. We had concerns over this and went to our GP who referred him to Physio. We were told he had a weakened core and that he would need to be monitored and seen by a physio on a regular basis. As Alfie hit toddler age he continued to struggle sitting up, he didn’t crawl and was delayed with his walking and his speech.

We raised these concerns with our Health Visitor and she referred him to a Paediatrician in January 2017. The referral got lost in the system and in the end it took us a year to get an appointment with a Paediatrician. In this time Alfie had shown great improvement in his mobility and his speech but still struggled with steps and stairs.

We had the appointment with the Paediatrician in late January 2018. It was suggested that Alfie should have a blood test to look for any form of muscle weakness such as Muscular Dystrophy or even possibly Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Alfie had the blood test the same afternoon. The next day we got a phone call to say that the blood test was high and that we needed to see the consultant the next day.

We returned to see the consultant who informed us that as the blood results were high that it was Muscular Dystrophy and quite possibly Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

We then had to wait a further 3 weeks to have the results confirmed. Our worst fears were confirmed that Alfie had Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. We were told this devastating news over the phone and were left to deal with the diagnosis alone. No support, no direction and no information as to what Duchenne actually was and how it would affect Alfie in the future. All we were told is that he would be referred to Manchester Children’s Hospital and an appointment would be confirmed soon. We had many questions we wanted to ask but at the same time we were scared of the answers we may not want to hear.

In dealing alone with the diagnosis we have gone through many emotions as a family from tears to anger to plenty more tears. It’s hard enough when your child has a cold or they’re sick. You just want to take it away from them. To be told that your child has an incurable disease is the most devastating news any parent can receive.

This has prompted us to set up this crowdfunding page in Alfie’s name called Action4Alfie.
We want to raise awareness of this devastating disease. We wouldn’t want any family to go through the diagnosis the same way as we did so we aim to change this by finding a way to give parents direction and support at the diagnosis stage.

With your help and kindness, our aim is to give Alfie (and his big sister, Mila-Rose) the best childhood we could possibly give them by raising funds for his future to make everyday as normal as possible.

We want to give Alfie the best possible life we can, to give him the chance to always be himself and to be independent. This includes any equipment that he will need to help him be himself and allow him to live a happy and full life. With your help we can give him the best helping hand we can to ensure that his smile continues to light up any room.

Anything you can give to support Alfie and his future is greatly appreciated.

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Updates

4

24 days ago

Alex Hatfield

24 days ago

Think I managed to get well and truly covered, great fun!

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24 days ago

Alex Hatfield

24 days ago

Covered in colour after our run today and on stage with the warm up girls doing the action for Alfie sign. We had lots of fun all for a great cause. It is still not to late to donate, so please show your support!

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24 days ago

Alex Hatfield

24 days ago

This is us both at the start of the colour run today!

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3 months ago

Alex Hatfield started crowdfunding

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Page last updated on: 7/28/20182:28 PM

Supporters

23

dave fulham

Jul 28, 2018

£10.00

Kirsty Dean

Jul 23, 2018

Congrats to you both & all the best to Alfie x

£10.00

Karl, Sarah and Lorna

Jul 23, 2018

Congratulations and well done

£20.00

Lynne and Tommy Sales

Jul 21, 2018

Thanks to you both for your act of kindness raising funds for our lovely grandson ❤❤❤

£20.00

Janine Jones

Jul 21, 2018

Good luck and what a lovely thing to do for my nephew, Alfie. Love Janine, Lee and Finley xxx

About the fundraiser

Alex Hatfield

Manchester, UK

I am Alex Hatfield and my wife and I have a lovely little 4 year old boy Oscar who is the same age as Alfie. Alfie is the little boy of our dear friends Kieron and Louise who also have a little girl called Mila-Rose. We decided we wanted to help their cause as much as we can.